Classes

I’ve facilitated courses through the U.S., the U.K., and even virtually to folks in Australia! I’d love to teach at your next event, retreat, library function, etc. Contact me for details on how we can customize my content to match the needs of your audience.* The following sessions are just a few that I offer.

Creating Great Characters: Before we can write out characters’ stories, we need understand them. How do we get there? Together we’ll work through some exercises to allow us to “get” our characters.

Creating Your Brand: Are you a writer without an on-line identity? Let’s brainstorm steps you can take to create your brand. Together we’ll look at some brand components and discuss your first steps in marketing yourself to your readership.

Into Faerie–Research and World Building In The Star Child Series: Before The Star Child series, I logged dozens of hours in my own library doing research. I’ll take you through the process and share how I integrated my findings into the series.

It’s Just A Conversation-Presentation Skills For Writers: As a writers, your presentation skills toolkit can mean the difference between everything from a book sale to a book deal. Let’s boil down your presentation from a potentially intimidating scenario into what it is. A conversation.

Pantsing + Plotting= Potting: Let’s delve into this hybrid approach to plotting your novel with a new technique: potting. Together, we’ll talk about how you can grow your own ideas.

Pick-up Lines That Work-Powerful Openings In YA Books: Recommended by the ALA programming librarian, this is an interactive session that explores a book’s pick-up line–a.k.a. its opening chapter. We’ll review popular YA books and review characteristics that make readers want to turn to page two.

PowerPoint For Writers: So you’ve been asked to present and you need a PowerPoint presentation. But how do you create one that grabs the attention of your audience? I’ll share my time-tested techniques for creating valuable and memorable PowerPoint materials.

Psst…Show, Don’t Tell: The difference between a good book and a great book is, in many cases, showing vs. telling. I’ll explore both, giving you active examples of each. You’ll be encouraged to work through some of your own materials during the session.

Social Media For Writers: Don’t know a tweet from a like? Have no idea what Instagram is? Fearful of pinning anything? Let’s unravel the myths and cover the basics of social media together.

Website For Writers–The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Don’t have a website yet? Looking to get started or just revamp your own? Together, we’ll review some of the basic elements of great web design and discuss problem areas you can pinpoint to make your web-based home a gorgeous one.